Trump has 'set up an active search' for the next Fed chair, White House economic adviser says

President Trump has “set up an active search” to decide who to appoint as the next Federal Reserve chair when Jerome Powell’s term expires, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Sunday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is working with the president on the search, “and they’re going to go through a list of names,” Mr. Hassett said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I’m sure the president will pick the best available person.”

Mr. Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, did not rule out accepting the job if asked but suggested he’s happy in his current role.

“We’ll have to see if he chooses me,” he said. “But I think that I have the best job in the world.”

Mr. Trump could make his decision on the next chair when he fills a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors that Adriana Kugler announced she’s vacating early.

The president told reporters he has about three candidates in mind for the board seat. He may want to fill Ms. Kugler’s seat with a person whom he could later appoint as chair.

Mr. Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May, but his board term does not end until Jan. 31, 2028.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly called on Mr. Powell to lower interest rates and berated him on social media for not doing so, referring to him as “too late.”

The Fed voted on Wednesday to keep short-term interest rates between 4.25% and 4.5%, but the decision included the first dissent from two board members in more than 30 years.

Asked if the Fed chair should take direction from the Oval Office, Mr. Hassett said any person in that role “should listen to all the voices, especially their critics, to try to think about, ‘What am I getting right? What am I getting wrong?’”

“The Fed chair also has a transparency responsibility, which I think that Jay has fallen down on a little bit,” he said. “If you’re going to come out and say, for example, that you think that tariffs are going to cause inflation, then for goodness sake, you should put out a model that explains how much inflation and why you think that way. Because there are others that disagree. Why we have to have a debate, and it’d be good to actually put your finger on the scale of tariffs cause inflation, then you need to explain why.”